Chapter 792

【 THE GATES OF HELL, WHOLE MAP UNLOCKED 】

—

“Your Grace, Your Supreme Highness…”

Meeting Eve’s contemplative gaze, Azazel struggled internally for a long while before finally gritting his teeth and speaking.

“I can offer you no more than a few hints.”

A spark of interest stirred within Evé.

“Oh?”

Raising her head, Evé looked toward Azazel.

“Speak.”

After a brief hesitation, Azazel said:

“Your Grace… I heard from the elves in the labyrinth that you are currently launching an offensive operation on one of the sunken worlds in the Abyss?”

Evé neither confirmed nor denied it, merely giving a slight nod.

“And that world served as the staging ground from which Samael’s forces launch their invasion in Seigües?”

Azazel continued.

Evé glanced at him and nodded once more.

“Your Grace…”

Taking a deep breath, Azazel spoke meaningfully.

“Theoretically speaking, every layer of Hell possesses a method by which a Gate of Hell can be established, one that connects directly to a world within the Abyss. This is especially true during times of war. Furthermore, only us Demon Lords possess the authority to open or close these Gates of Hell.”

“In addition, although the Seven Layers of Hell exist as seven separate layers, they are, in a certain sense, a single unified realm. As such, the power of the Abyss does not create barriers between the layers of Hell. Instead, it flows freely among them…”

Having said this much, Azazel declined to elaborate any further.

Evé frowned slightly and fell into thought.

A few moments later, realization suddenly dawned upon her.

“I see.”

Evé nodded.

Then, rising from the throne, she looked once more toward Azazel.

“Azazel, among the Abyssal Myths imprisoned here within the Labyrinth, which ones once served under Samael’s army?”

Azazel respectfully replied:

“Your Grace, among those you captured, I think eleven out of those seventeen were Samael’s subordinate.”

…Seventeen?

Have I actually captured that many Abyssal Myths?

Even Evé was momentarily taken aback by the number.

During the recent war, she had simply been capturing and imprisoning enemies one after another without ever bothering to keep count.

“Is that so.”

Evé nodded, a strange expression appearing on her face.

Shortly afterward, she departed from Azazel’s palace.

Only then did Azazel finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Slumping into his throne, he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Whew… finally gone. Every time I’m in her presence, the pressure feels greater than before…”

“A higher divine power would get my Origin Core…Sigh. Well, I can forget about running away in this lifetime.”

“Ah… who would have thought that I, one of the Seven Lords of Hell, would end up working as an employee for a righteous god?”

The Seventh Demon Lord let out a long, helpless sigh.

However, he quickly regained his composure and shouted toward the outside of his palace:

“Where is everyone? Did you all die somewhere? Can’t you see Yggdrasill has already left? Bring me some sweet melons at once!”

Then he muttered under his breath:

“Those bastards are getting more and more shameless with their slacking. Tch, they all deserve to have their backsides stabbed by elves!”

༺⟐༻

After leaving Azazel’s palace, Evé immediately sought out the Abyssal Myths who had once served under Samael.

At that very moment, six of the seven Abyssal Myths were occupied fighting players.

With the complete opening of the Silver-rank and the influx of over a million new players, the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth, which provided Silver-class advancement and class-change slots, had once again become the most popular dungeon in the game.

As a result, the workload assigned to each imprisoned Abyssal Myths had become even greater than before.

These once lofty and terrifying Mythical Beings now appeared noticeably haggard, not in terms of physical strength, but rather, the state of their mental torment.

The six Abyssal Myths currently engaged in battle with the players were actually in somewhat better condition.

If only for the sake of preserving a shred of dignity, and to delay the arrival of their next battle for as long as possible, they had no choice but to continue struggling against those elves whom they now found nauseating at first sight.

As a result, they still managed to unleash a respectable amount of combat strength.

The one Abyssal Myth who happened to be off duty, however, resembled a completely deflated balloon.

He sprawled across his throne with a lifeless expression, as though all joy had left existence itself.

Even when Evé appeared before him, he remained somewhat dazed.

Looking at the griffin-like Abyssal Myth before her, Evé spoke the name provided by Azazel.

“Wabra?”

The moment his name was called, the Abyssal Myth trembled violently.

Slowly raising his head, he came face to face with Evé.

Wabra: “…”

Instantly, terror filled his eyes as he sprang from his throne, scrambled backward several steps, and pressed himself against the wall.

Whilst breathing heavily, he then let out low whimpering sounds as his muscles tensed and every strand of fur on his body stood on end.

He looked exactly like a cat that had been badly frightened.

Eve: “…”

Am I really that frightening?

Muttering inwardly, Evé forced what she believed to be a friendly smile.

However, the moment the Abyssal Myth known as Wabra saw that smile, the guy became even more terrified.

His claws scraped frantically against the walls of the palace while his tail tucked tightly behind him.

Desperately, he searched for somewhere to hide.

Evé: “…”

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

Deciding to get straight to the point, Evé asked:

“Wabra, did Samael establish a Gate of Hell connecting the world, Wasteland of Desolation to the Sixth Layer of Hell?”

During the pursuit of Samael’s subordinate Abyssal Myths, Evé had not had enough time to search through their memories.

As a result, the only option now was to ask one of the surviving members directly.

Upon hearing the question, Wabra froze for a moment.

Turning toward Evé, he stared with deep suspicion and caution in his eyes.

“Tell me, and I’ll grant you three days of rest.”

Evé spoke in a gentle tone.

Wabra’s eyes widened instantly.

“R-Really?”

For the first time, he spoke, his voice carrying a trace of excitement.

“Of course.”

Evé nodded.

At the same time, she could not help but sigh inwardly.

The players truly embodied the term ‘Fourth Crisis. ¹

No matter how powerful an individual might be, after enduring ten days to half a month under the players’ relentless attacks, anyone would probably go insane.

Viewed from such perspective, Azazel, who had only broken down after being tormented by players for several months, was actually quite remarkably resilient.

With Eve’s promise secured, the Abyssal Myth named Wabra immediately perked up.

“The northwest! It’s in the northwest of the Wasteland of Desolation! In a place called Fallen God Canyon!”

The answer burst out of him almost instantly.

The northwest?

Eve’s heart stirred.

Wasn’t that precisely the direction in which the remnants of the Abyssal army had fled while being relentlessly chased down by the players?

A strange expression appeared on Eve’s face.

After answering, Wabra carefully looked back at the terrifying god before him, but there was also a trace of anticipation within his eyes.

“Your Majesty, the Goddess of Life… can I… can I really rest for three days?”

༺⟐༻

After obtaining the coordinates of the Gate of Hell leading to the Sixth Layer of Hell from Wabra, Evé promptly returned to the Garden of Eden.

By this point, she already had an idea for how to quickly deploy the players into the First Layer of Hell.

Although Azazel had spoken only a few clues, Evé fully understood the meaning behind his words.

First, he was informing Evé that the Abyssal Myths participating in the War Between Gods and Demons had most likely established passageway between their respective layers of Hell and the Wasteland of Desolation.

Second, he was revealing that the power of the Abyss within the realm of Hell functioned as a unified whole. There was no dimensional repulsion, or energy interference, and theoretically no obstruction to perception between the layers.

In other words, even for a righteous deity, as long as one remained within Hell and possessed sufficient resistance against abyssal corruption, and had a powerful enough divine soul, one could observe any location within any layer of Hell, provided the other Demon Lords did not deliberately interfere.

Taken together, these two pieces of information presented Evé with an entirely new idea.

She could locate the Gate of Hell left behind by Samael, secretly enter the Sixth Layer of Hell through it, and forcibly locate the coordinates of the First Layer of Hell before the other Demon Lords realized what was happening. Afterwards, she could directly use the Gate of Reversal and construct a transportation channel.

Of course, this remained only a theoretical method.

Given the inherent suppressive nature of abyssal power against divine power, even a deity as enduring as Evé would have needed to expend a vast amount of divine energy to scour the First Layer from the Sixth Layer.

Fortunately, Evé did not actually need to spend divine power in that manner since she had already obtained the exact coordinates of the First Layer’s core from Azazel.

Therefore, as long as the Gate of Reversal could be activated somewhere within Hell and supplied with the necessary divine power, that method would be sufficient enough.

Moreover, without the interference and isolation normally imposed by abyssal power, the Gate of Reversal could establish a direct connection between the two locations.

And once even a single player was successfully transported through, a permanent link between the two layers of Hell could be formally established.

Under normal circumstances, this method would be nearly impossible.

The Demon Lords’ control over the entirety of Hell was so strong that they could suppress the Gate of Reversal the instant it was activated.

However, the fortunate part was that Samael had already been captured by Evé.

With him being sealed in the Labyrinth, his control over the Sixth Layer of Hell would inevitably be weakened considerably.

That was the opportunity.

Even so, timing would be critical.

Several other Demon Lords still remained within Hell after all, and once they realized what Evé intend to do, they would undoubtedly intervene immediately.

“This is quite a good plan. But why didn’t Azazel explain it directly? Or perhaps… the matter regarding the Gates of Hell themselves are the subject he was unable to discuss in detail?”

Evé pondered thoughtfully.

With her now having a clear direction, a concrete plan quickly took shape in her mind.

“This operation cannot alert the enemy.”

“Fortunately, while the players are already attacking the Wasteland of Desolation, I can issue a new quest directing them to continue pursuing the demon forces and advance toward the coordinates of the Gate of Hell leading to the Sixth Layer.”

“Then, her side can launch an invasion of the Sixth Layer of Hell.”

“I should increase the number of participating players as well. Let’s make it a nice round figure: around two hundred thousand more or less.”

“I’ll secretly accompany them as Féng throughout the operation. When the moment arrives, I’ll establish contact with the Gate of Reversal and create a transportation channel leading directly to the First Layer of Hell.”

“But just to be safe, I should not reveal myself until the very last moment. The Wasteland of Desolation is far too close to Hell, especially Leviathan’s dominion, the Third Layer. So appearing without absolute certainty would make it far too easy to expose my intentions.”

“Luckily, time flows much faster within the Wasteland of Desolation so I can afford to wait.”

With that thought, Evé immediately issued a new quest to the players currently stationed in the Wasteland of Desolation.

At the same time, with a single mental command, she transformed into her incarnate persona, Féng, and changed her appearance to that of an ordinary player and teleported it to the Wasteland of Desolation.

A fragment of her divine soul was split off to control it.

Evé did not transfer her full consciousness there.

However, when the critical moment arrived, she would naturally shift her consciousness in advance and focus the majority of her attention on that location.

For now, Eve’s primary concern remained finding a way to merge with the Origin Core of the Seigües World while avoiding detection by the Pantheon.

There was also another matter to address.

Now that she had advanced to the rank of Higher Divine Power and recruited such a vast number of players, it was now finally the right time to remove the restrictions she placed upon the player’s scope of activity within Seigües and unlock the entire map of the mainland continent.

In truth, the World of Seigües was not particularly remarkable in size when compared to the rest of the realms in the universe.

However, its divine laws were the most complete, its history the oldest, and countless secrets lay buried within it, many of which even true gods struggled to uncover.

For players, however, whose desire for exploration knew few limits, none of this posed a problem.

Since Evé intended to eventually bring the world of Seigües under her control, just as the previous World Tree had done, she would need a comprehensive understanding of every aspect of this world.

With that in mind, Evé logged onto the game’s forum and published a new announcement.

༺⟐༻

The Endless Abyss, Wasteland of Desolation

Lightning continued to tear through the dense cloud cover overhead.

Across the vast and desolate land below, an army composed of the game’s most elite players fought beneath the leadership of three Mythical Dragons, clashing against the remnants of the demonic forces.

Although “clashing” might not have been the most accurate description.

It was closer to a pursuit.

Without the protection and organization provided by the Demon Lords, the remaining demon armies had long since fallen into complete disarray.

At one point, a powerful Legendary-rank Demon King attempted to reorganize their scattered forces and make a stand against the elves.

Unfortunately for him, one of the Mythical Dragons swallowed him whole.

Immediately afterward, the hastily assembled demon army collapsed shortly.

Had there been more than thirty thousand elite players participating in the campaign, they likely would have scattered across the entire land long ago.

Even so, many players gradually became overconfident as the campaign progressed.

By now, it was not uncommon to see squads of barely a dozen players enthusiastically charging after groups of more than a hundred demons.

Naturally, such operations rarely ended well.

Drifting too far from the main force and beyond the protection of the Mythical Dragons, these reckless players would eventually find themselves surrounded by recovering demon forces and promptly sent back to the World Tree for resurrection.

More than half a month had passed in Seigües.

Within the Wasteland of Desolation, however, nearly four months had only gone by.

Thousands of players had spent that time racing across the battlefield in pursuit of fleeing demons, leaving far behind the native elven support units responsible for erecting holy statues of the Goddess and establishing new “safe zones” along the route.

As a result, after months of gradual dispersion, only about one-third of the original thirty thousand players still remained with the main army.

Many of them were closed-beta veterans, and a considerable number were students.

Even so, that was already quite impressive.

After all, people still needed to rest and attend to real-life obligations.

Even when it was still in its summer vacation period on Earth, maintaining such a large active force was no small feat.

At that moment, while players casually chatted in the battlefield communication channel and listened to the campaign commanders leisurely direct operations, a new announcement suddenly appeared.

“Full-scale counteroffensive?”

“A Gate of Hell?”

Many players paused and exchanged glances.

“Heh, looks like we’re going to hit the max level cap of Silver-rank soon.”

At the same time, near the passageway which connect Seigües to the Wasteland of Desolation, countless players who had been waiting in line for available tasks immediately became excited.

“Haha! They devs finally introduced a new server-wide quest!”

“I knew it! How could thirty thousand players possibly be enough? That’s an entire world we’re talking about!”

The players erupted with excitement and surged toward the dimensional passageway.

Amongst the crowd was Eve’s incarnation, Feng, who quietly blended in with the masses and entered the Wasteland of Desolation alongside them.

¹ The Fourth Crisis, is a chinese internet term, which typically refers to players from Earth who enter a game world or another world and behave like unstoppable natural disasters.